Narva to revive free city paper as opposition alleges election propaganda

Narva will once again publish a free city newspaper, with city officials describing it as an impartial information sheet and opposition politicians calling it election propaganda, ERR reports.

The previous newspaper stopped publishing four years ago after a change in city government. The Centre Party is now back in power in Narva, and the coalition says local print media are influenced by the opposition and do not give residents a full picture of what is happening in the city.

“All the information is distorted, and our city’s residents get, let’s say, not false information, but not quite what is actually happening in the city,” said Aleksei Jevgrafov of the Centre Party. He said the new paper would be “purely technical” and report on city events and decisions.

Jana Kondrashova, of the Respekt opposition faction on the Narva City Council, said the timing suggested the publication was linked to the parliamentary elections scheduled for March. She said she viewed it as propaganda and that officials should pay for it themselves.

Jevgrafov said the newspaper should avoid political promotion and could take the city newspaper of Narva-Jõesuu as a model. He said it should not promote him, the mayor or the council chair.

Local media in Narva said they did not see a major threat, provided the city paper did not disrupt the advertising market. Roman Vikulov, a journalist at the Gorod newspaper, said he expected its coverage to be one-sided and to portray life in the city as increasingly good while praising the city government.

The city council has allocated 30,000 euros for the newspaper through the end of the year. A previous version, published five years ago, cost taxpayers 145,000 euros a year.